Yeah, it's not just a band of music; it's part of a wholesome artistic movement, visual art, music, concept, politics of course. Laibach je zakon!!! And this said from faraway Argentina
This is truly one of the most amazing music videos ever made. Only Laibach could go to North Korea and do this. Not because Laibach is subversive. No, they were able to go to NK to perform and film because they went with love in their hearts. I don't think the song/video is about the NK government. I think it as about the people. No matter what the government of NK does to them. No matter how much the rest of the world treats NK like villains. The sound of music still exists in the hearts of the people. The people still want to sing and listen to music. Their lives have been hard, but the people of NK will survive. The people will still exist after the government is long gone.
I don't agree. The video is subversive to us - the Western people, thinking we are living the perfect life and everybody else should learn from us. The Moment where everybody is waving to the musician's bus and they wave back is pure gold. And the scene, where Milan starts to sing and the girl's mouth drops, because she knows the song, but has never have heard anything like this before. A seed was planted in her brain. Is it good? is it bad? We don't know. It just is.
little correction: it's not the 'rest of the world'. It's basically 'the US' with Europe at their heels (as always ...). It's funny because it's one of those little innocent automatisms of our thinking of 'we' as 'the world' :)
@@borisschubert672 Keep in mind this video is heavily edited using clips from different parts. Someone uploaded the entire performance on Vimeo, and Milan had issues in the first song (Whistleblowers), but they also closed with the same song. So, the reaction shots from the crowd can't be trusted to fit any specific moment or even their own performance.
While the labyrinth of ideological implications embedded in this video are fascinating, I think one of its core intentions is made absolutely and apparently clear in the cinematography: There is a consistent and conscious effort to maximally emphasize the humanity of the individuals portrayed. All of the shots and cuts were clearly chosen with that angle in mind. This can't be unintentional because almost all other footage outsiders get to see of North Koreans depict them as a faceless mass with either no expressions or painfully artificial behavior. This is most likely the image that the regime itself seeks to project as well, seeing as they are most often the primary source of these clips. As a South Korean who is exposed to such depictions quite frequently, I can tell you the contrast is visceral.
This is a quite enlightened comment, in contrast with most who are just expressing various degrees of angst towards the NK state and seem to really miss the point of it all. The pont Laibach try to make, the point of the video, of their appearance in NK, everything. Kudos, and double so because you are south Korean.
It is indeed the tenderness in the shots that make this video so amazing. I found it really touching. I was grateful for the humanity too. I'm glad you feel the same.
3:31 that's one of the most genuine,direct & beautiful hand gestures happening between cross-genre artists while showing respect and love towards each other. We need more of this.
hands are so important in mankind evolution and in general... im reading a book by sagan, about evolution in human inteligence and it talks about the universal "hi" gesture and how it could be from way back to the homo sapiens showing "no weapons" the whole book is about speculations ,but i found that nice
when I heard the first part of the song I was stunned, and when Fras started singing along, I was even more overwhelmed. Simply superb! someone has to give them a medal or something...
I've never heard of this band before it popped up on my Spodify "Discover Weekly" list with this song. This is incredible! I can't believe I've never heard of them before! Love this, love what they did, and love that they were able to bring their style to a place that needs it so desperately!
I watched this like a thousand times and I still can't figure out how some people in these comments come to see it as an ode to dprk. Maybe the imagery isn't completely obvious for someone who never experienced totalitarian culture first hand. But the the musical language is pretty damn clear. There really isn't any mystery or double meaning here. The vid is simply about the beauty of a tragedy.
By all metrics, then they missed the beauty of the moment when a brand new rainbow was made. I can't help but want to give every person a present, whether needed or not. Like a flower placed gently into the barrel of a rifle. ✌
At 3:50 Milan Fras is smiling! Impossible! Anyways, I highly value that this piece came to exist and the effort that my dear Slovenes put into this. κῦδος
@@ShengTheCraftsman Do you by a chance know if the concerts featured in this videoclip can be seen somewhere? I've seen Liberation day, but it doesn't even include Laibach concert itself and I would really like to see the ones performed by the Koreans.
This is a freaking masterpiece. It is so meta I do not know how to begin. I got my opinion on the political orientation of Laibach but regardless, I gotta hand it to them. This was a total homerun. 1. If we were talking about any other band, this would be a normal '80s style promotional tour video. But we are talking about Laybach so this is just layer one. 2. The song on its own is a happy one but the plot of the movie is not a happy one and the real story of the family is not a happy one. Layer two 3. There is music-lyric dissonance as is the usual case with Laibach songs. Happy lyrics/rough industrial music. This creates some extra doubt on whether what you are hearing is actually happy. Maybe it is... Maybe not... And this is where it gets interesting. Layer 3 Now the good stuff: What do all the above mean? a.)Played straight it is a Laibach style love letter to Korea. One can perceive it this way. After all, it is just a cover of a happy song with a nice happy video on the background. b.) Played ironically, given the dark undertone of the movie, the hard tunes of Laibach music and the stylized orderly happy people, it can be viewed as a critique. c.) What if point b is right but it is not a critique but a love letter nevertheless. What if this is the laibach way of saying "We love you" to a regime of their liking in Laibach style? d.) What if point and b are both right but instead of being a love letter to the regime, it is actually a love letter to the people and a critique to the regime? e.) What if it is a combination of the above? And there are two more considerations. 1.) How do the political convictions of Laibach fit into this? If they are fascists, this can be a critique of a communist dystopia or alternatively it can be a love letter since Laibach recognise that what they saw in North Korea is not communism but fascism and thus to their liking. If they are anti-authoritarian, this is obviously a critique of the regime. 2.) Laibach have stated something in the lines of "North Korea reminds us of Yugoslavia". What does this mean? Is this a good thing because those were the good old days? Is it a bad thing because Yugoslavia was run by an oppressive backward regime which went up in flames? Given that Laibach were harassed by the police back in those days, as far as Laibach are concerned, the answer is probably that the Yugoslavia reference is not a positive one at all. But it is still in the eye of the beholder and they definitely played with their audience and the N.Korea regime.
Very smart analysis. My question is, how could they possibly infiltrate the DPRK if it wasn't a honest to goodness fascist tie-in? I highly doubt the smallest trace of irony would fly over the North Korean sensors. Why would they pick Laibach, of all cover bands, to perform The Sound of Music which is sung in all english classes across the country's middle schools, if they didn't consider Laibach to be a true communist act?
@@zaiten2012 Because Laibach is not being ironic. According to the Laibach covenant: "All art is subject to political manipulation ... except for that which speaks the language of this same manipulation." Slavoj Zizek said: "An ideal subject today is one who has ironic distance towards the system, and the reverse of this is that, the only way, I would even say, to be really subversive, is not to develop critical potentials, ironic distance, but precisely to take the system more seriously than it takes itself." For an example of how irony is not subversive, see the 2014 comedy movie "The Interview," which ends with Kim Jong-un being blown up. This was immediately co-opted by political actors who attempted to drop DVD copies of the movie onto North Korea via balloon. But this is the height of Western arrogance. We in the West make jokes about North Korea, are ironic towards it, but underneath we are serious: we really do want to blow up the country and kill their leader. When the North Korean leaders tell their people that the West is a threat to them, they're right, and so they have every reason to continue on with their system. The "ideal subject" as Zizek framed it means an alienated, passive consumer; one incapable of actually changing his world. Incidentally, I think there is another possibility: that if anything this is a satire of Western culture, as Laibach performed the Sound of Music because it's popular in North Korea and is used to teach children English. But it was our culture which produced the musical; so what does it say about us if one of our most beloved cultural treasures is so easily compatible with an allegedly "totalitarian" system?
I'm pretty sure they have some fond memories about Yugoslavia, and I'm quite sure they would prefer that time to what bloody and criminal place Balkans became after the West "won". Of course there are many layers in their work, and I believe there is criticism too, but the sadness is greater. And I would boldly guess that the sadness is for the lost opportunites to build a better society. Communism was characterized by very bad (rough, oppressive, dictatorial) methods of implementation, but its core ideals and values are good, just and humane - much better than anything the current Pax Americana & TNC-style "democracy" can offer. Why do I believe I'm correct? Look at their song Eurovision - there is no feeling of sweetness, no feeling of nostalgia, no loveletter whatsoever. It seems like a pretty much outright condemnation of the current state of affairs (and it was 4 years ago! how much things have degraded since).
My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds That rise from the lake to the trees The hills are alive with the sound of music With songs they have sung for a thousand years The hills fill my heart with the sound of music My heart wants to sing every song it hears My heart wants to sigh like a chime That flies from a church on a breeze The hills are alive with the sound of music With songs they have sung for a thousand years The hills fill my heart with the sound of music My heart wants to sing every song it hears My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds That rise from the lake to the trees My heart wants to sigh like a chime That flies from a church on a breeze I go to the hills when my heart is lonely To laugh like a brook when it trips I know I will hear what I've heard before And falls over stones on its way My heart will be blessed with the sound of music To sing through the night And I'll sing once more Like a lark who is learning to pray
Thank you for waiting until you were safe for this. This is monumental. A true insight, against the appeasers and appologists, strong with iron conscience like your band has always been. Thank you also for your bravery in traveling to DPRK.
Laibach's cover versions are often used to subvert the original message or intention of the song-a notable example being their version of the song "Live Is Life" by Opus, an Austrian arena rock band. Laibach recorded two new interpretations of the song, titled "Leben heißt Leben" and "Opus Dei". The first, the opening song on the Laibach album Opus Dei, was sung in German. The second was promoted as a single, and its promotional video (which used the title "Life Is Life") was played extensively on American cable channel MTV. "Opus Dei" retained some of the original song's English lyrics, but was delivered in a musical style that left the meaning of the lyrics open to interpretation. Whereas the original is a feel-good pop anthem, Laibach's interpretation twists the melody into a triumphant military march. With the exception of the promotional video, the refrain is at one point translated into German, giving an example of the sensitivity of lyrics to their context. The Opus Dei album also features a cover of Queen's "One Vision" with lyrics translated into German under the title '"Geburt einer Nation" ("Birth of a Nation"), revealing the ambiguity of lines like "One race one hope / One real decision". On NATO, Laibach also memorably re-worked Europe's glam metal anthem "The Final Countdown" as a bombastic disco epic. Other notable covers include Let It Be, reinterpretation of the eponymous Beatles album. The ensuing maxi-single Sympathy for the Devil deconstructs the Rolling Stones song of the same name with seven different interpretations. Laibach not only references modern artists through reinterpretation, but also samples or reinvents older musical pieces. For example, their song "Anglia" is based on the national anthem of the United Kingdom, God Save the Queen, released on Volk, a collection of Laibach's versions of several national anthems. On this album they also included an anthem for their NSK State in Time, based on their song "The Great Seal" from Opus Dei. They have also toured with an audio-visual performance centered on Johann Sebastian Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge. Since this work has no specifications of acquired instruments and is furthermore based on mathematical principles, Laibach has argued that the music can be seen as proto-techno. Therefore, the band found Die Kunst der Fuge to be ideal for an interpretation using computers and software. In 2009, Laibach reworked Richard Wagner's Overture to Tannhäuser, Siegfried-Idyll and The Ride Of The Valkyries in collaboration with the RTV Slovenia Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Izidor Leitinger. Laibach's version is titled "VolksWagner". In addition to cover songs, Laibach has remixed songs by other bands. These include two songs by the Florida death metal band Morbid Angel that appear on the Morbid Angel EP Laibach Re-mixes. (Obwohl sich Laibach grundsätzlich als „Rock-Band“ versteht, umspannt der Musikstil einen weiten Bogen von Genres und ist im Ergebnis eine in dieser Form zum Teil einzigartige Klangcollage. Die frühen Stücke der Band in der ersten Hälfte der 1980er Jahre waren noch weitestgehend dem Post-Punk und dem Post-Industrial zuzuordnen und nahmen mit ihren Frühwerken Laibach (1985), Rekapitulacija (1985) und Nova Akropola (1986) partiell die Stilistik des Martial Industrial vorweg. Die Stücke dieser Periode sind geprägt durch den Einsatz von Bass und Schlagzeug, gepaart mit einfacher elektronischer Klangerzeugung und dem Einsatz von Kassettenrecordern für Samples und greifen inhaltlich und musikalisch die tatsächlichen industriellen Eindrücke der Bergbaustadt Trbovlje auf, aus der die Gründungsmitglieder Laibachs stammen. Exemplarisch für diese Stilperiode stehen unter anderem die Stücke Red Silence und Delo in disciplina (Arbeit und Disziplin). Ab Mitte der 1980er Jahre bildet sich mit dem Album Nova Akropola allmählich der als militant classicism (Alexei Monroe) bezeichnete typische Laibachstil heraus, der geprägt wird durch militärische Marschrhythmen, Fanfaren und Samplings von klassischer Musik gepaart mit Bruchstücken politischer Reden und Statements insbesondere von Josip Broz Tito. Die Stücke sind im Vergleich ruhiger und verbreiten zum Teil eine fast mystische Atmosphäre. Exemplarisch für diesen Stil stehen unter anderem die Stücke Brat moj (Bruder mein) oder Država (Der Staat). “Militant classicism is a form which unites the mechanics of organic rhythm and the confusion of intuitive sound internventions into the harmony of the beautiful idea. We have monopolised the right to chaos so as to underline order.” „Militanter Klassizismus ist eine Form, die die Mechanik des organischen Rhythmus und die Verwirrung von intuitiven Klanginterventionen in der Harmonie der schönen Idee vereint. Wir haben das Recht auf Chaos monopolisiert, um die Ordnung zu unterstreichen.“ - Laibach Mit dem Erscheinen der Alben Opus Dei und Let It Be wurde dieser Stil zum Ende der 1980er Jahre hin ergänzt durch zahlreiche Coverversionen bekannter Stücke aus dem Rock- und Pop-Bereich, die entsprechend in die Form des militant classicism umgeformt wurden. Ab dem Ende der 1980er Jahre erfolgte - unter Beibehaltung des grundsätzlichen Stils - eine verstärkte Hinwendung zu Disco-, Techno- und teilweise sogar Rap-Elementen, kulminierend in den Alben Kapital (1992) und NATO (1994). “We are fascinated by disco aesthetics […] which is - as a regular repetition - the purest form of militantly organized rhythmics of technicist production and classicist beauty.” „Wir sind fasziniert von der Disco-Ästhetik […], die - als regelmäßige Wiederholung - die reinste Form von militant organisierten Rhythmen von technizistischer Produktion und klassizistischer Schönheit ist.“ - Laibach Das 1997 erschienene Album Jesus Christ Superstars ist demgegenüber stark von Elementen des Heavy Metal geprägt. „Der Grund, warum wir uns mehr ins Heavy-Metal-Genre bewegt haben, ist der, daß Heavy Metal das erste Genre gewesen ist, das die moralischen Werte der Religion hinterfragt hat.“ - Laibach, 1996 Im neuen Jahrtausend kehrte Laibach mit dem Album WAT wieder verstärkt zum militant classicism der späten 1980er Jahre zurück, wobei die Musik grundsätzlich zugänglicher und stärker von elektronischen Sounds geprägt war. Das 2006 erschienene Album Volk mit Neuinterpretationen verschiedener Nationalhymnen ist noch stärker von elektronischen Klängen geprägt und ist insgesamt wesentlich weniger martialisch gehalten. Mit den Projekten LAIBACHKUNSTDERFUGE und Volkswagner wandte sich Laibach verstärkt klassischen Vorbildern zu und interpretierte diese klassisch orchestriert (Volkswagner) oder auch rein elektronisch (LAIBACHKUNSTDERFUGE) neu. In dieser eigenwilligen und teils kontroversen Zusammensetzung von Stilistiken spiegelt sich die Denkweise der Band wider. Hier wird das Prinzip der Überidentifikation mit totalitärer Ideologie deutlich: Laibach vereinnahmt alles. „Wir nehmen von allem ein bißchen und schaffen etwas anderes in einer neuen Kombination. Das ist unser Eklektizismus.“ - Laibach, 1994 Die grundlegende Idee des militant classicism äußert sich auch in der Bühnenpräsenz der Gruppe. Konzerte von Laibach sind üblicherweise geprägt vom uniformierten und autoritären Erscheinungsbild der Musiker sowie auch dem Live-Einsatz entsprechender Instrumente wie Trommeln und Fanfaren. Das disziplinierte Agieren steht dabei im krassen Gegensatz zu dem eher spontanen und freien Ansatz der Rockmusik. Die ästhetische Wirkung wird übersteigert durch entsprechende Videoprojektionen und Banner mit laibach-typischer Symbolik, wobei für bestimmte Projekte auch von diesem grundsätzlichen Erscheinungsbild abgewichen wird.)
People constantly trying to work out if this is a critique or support, if they are communists or fascists or anarchists or whatever. I think they're just human. It's a joyful, human music - with a joyful, beautiful aesthetic. And by enjoying the aesthetic in complete isolation from whatever policies the regime enacts - that's the subversive and radical element. They're reintroducing the simplicity of human joy.
I feel like it's the modern art of music. As long as you look at it and expirience some emotion whether that be joy, sadness, rage, peace, or anything more specofic, the artist did their ob and that's that.
Exactly ! It's everything at once. That's the real beauty of their music, it's critical, melancholic, approving, empathetic and the best thing about it is that it is so profound that nobody is able to use it as propaganda because it touches on so many levels. One person might feel sadness by those who are oppressed by communism but at the same time you feel the similarities with capitalism. It's universal suffrage.
The song inspires the nostalgia of a past and a life that we don't have, but you could have had if you were born in North Korea. We don't really know because we are not N. Koreans,,,,but actually we know, because we are all humans.
This is NSK's first big move for peace, understanding and cultural exchange inbetween peoples. This tickles the UN and produces on them the yellowest smile. Going as far as to where you're the least expected (just like when the Pistols went touring Dixie), is an act of benevolent courage, faithful to an higher understanding of life on the planet.
What Laibach did proves that's there's no border for music, if the music speaks for ppl and a lot of respect for all those who make it happen, it should have been such a challenge but they did it!
The world needs more Laibach diplomacy
right
right
right
@@turscakamadeo4864 right
right
Opening shot shows a buck with golden horns which is Slovene folklore. Beautiful.
In my humble opinion, Laibach is one of the most underrated band in the history of music. I hope time will make a difference.
Yeah, it's not just a band of music; it's part of a wholesome artistic movement, visual art, music, concept, politics of course. Laibach je zakon!!! And this said from faraway Argentina
Easily top 5 for me. Not just as a band, but an art movement.
Laibach refusing all norms yet again, legendary.
nothing compare to them
nothing compare to them
nothing compare to them
Avantgarde in his most pure form
As always
I don't no why, but my eyes fill with tears. The Beauty.
This is truly one of the most amazing music videos ever made. Only Laibach could go to North Korea and do this. Not because Laibach is subversive. No, they were able to go to NK to perform and film because they went with love in their hearts. I don't think the song/video is about the NK government. I think it as about the people.
No matter what the government of NK does to them. No matter how much the rest of the world treats NK like villains. The sound of music still exists in the hearts of the people. The people still want to sing and listen to music. Their lives have been hard, but the people of NK will survive. The people will still exist after the government is long gone.
In Whisleblowers he points at the audience and says "for you"
I don't agree. The video is subversive to us - the Western people, thinking we are living the perfect life and everybody else should learn from us. The Moment where everybody is waving to the musician's bus and they wave back is pure gold. And the scene, where Milan starts to sing and the girl's mouth drops, because she knows the song, but has never have heard anything like this before. A seed was planted in her brain. Is it good? is it bad? We don't know. It just is.
little correction: it's not the 'rest of the world'. It's basically 'the US' with Europe at their heels (as always ...). It's funny because it's one of those little innocent automatisms of our thinking of 'we' as 'the world' :)
@@borisschubert672 Keep in mind this video is heavily edited using clips from different parts. Someone uploaded the entire performance on Vimeo, and Milan had issues in the first song (Whistleblowers), but they also closed with the same song.
So, the reaction shots from the crowd can't be trusted to fit any specific moment or even their own performance.
While the labyrinth of ideological implications embedded in this video are fascinating, I think one of its core intentions is made absolutely and apparently clear in the cinematography: There is a consistent and conscious effort to maximally emphasize the humanity of the individuals portrayed. All of the shots and cuts were clearly chosen with that angle in mind.
This can't be unintentional because almost all other footage outsiders get to see of North Koreans depict them as a faceless mass with either no expressions or painfully artificial behavior. This is most likely the image that the regime itself seeks to project as well, seeing as they are most often the primary source of these clips. As a South Korean who is exposed to such depictions quite frequently, I can tell you the contrast is visceral.
This comment is "blech" but you're right.
that's one of the most illuminating and interesting comments i've ever read on youtube. thank you.
This is a quite enlightened comment, in contrast with most who are just expressing various degrees of angst towards the NK state and seem to really miss the point of it all. The pont Laibach try to make, the point of the video, of their appearance in NK, everything. Kudos, and double so because you are south Korean.
It is indeed the tenderness in the shots that make this video so amazing. I found it really touching. I was grateful for the humanity too. I'm glad you feel the same.
Insightful.
3:31 that's one of the most genuine,direct & beautiful hand gestures happening between cross-genre artists while showing respect and love towards each other. We need more of this.
hands are so important in mankind evolution and in general... im reading a book by sagan, about evolution in human inteligence and it talks about the universal "hi" gesture and how it could be from way back to the homo sapiens showing "no weapons"
the whole book is about speculations ,but i found that nice
I can't stop watching this video. This is so incredible. I want to be an artist like Laibach when I grow up.
Only Laibach could get away with something like this
I came here to say this exact same thing!
Get away? Naah...they just gone. Farewell Laibach
Laibach gets sent to korean gulag. "Counter-terrorists win"
There had been other bands too
@@ramsuslethal To crap
God damn it Laibach. Why do you have to make my brain think so much?
That has to be the most bizarre thing I've watched in a long time. Fantastic.
Reality, nothing bizarre
when I heard the first part of the song I was stunned, and when Fras started singing along, I was even more overwhelmed. Simply superb! someone has to give them a medal or something...
I've never heard of this band before it popped up on my Spodify "Discover Weekly" list with this song. This is incredible! I can't believe I've never heard of them before! Love this, love what they did, and love that they were able to bring their style to a place that needs it so desperately!
+1
One of my favorite Videos on UA-cam. It symbolises humaneness for me.
I watched this like a thousand times and I still can't figure out how some people in these comments come to see it as an ode to dprk. Maybe the imagery isn't completely obvious for someone who never experienced totalitarian culture first hand. But the the musical language is pretty damn clear. There really isn't any mystery or double meaning here. The vid is simply about the beauty of a tragedy.
This is one of the best songs I've heard in a long time
Perfectly filmed and edited piece of video... One of the best I've ever seen.
This sounds so romantic,it makes you FALL IN LOVE with Laibach❤
This is pure brilliance....im close to tears....just unbelievable stuff!
Великолепный звук и музыка ! Браво Лайбах!
heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time ... there is nothing on the the planet like LAIBACH.
This song is the essence of Laibach no doubt with full of ambivalent feelings
Masterpiece. Very atmospheric
It's really beautiful. It's social commentary but has compassion and respect. I can't categorize it. It's really what I love about art.
A good soundtrack to a challenging time in the human narrative. May love and the sound of music ring.
Impressive, beautiful both song and video.
Che meraviglioso Ordine..
My heart wants to sigh like a chime
That flies from a church on a breeze!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Laibach for more one "wondeful" music, many hugs from Sâo Paulo - Brazil
tnaks for posting
Wow... Just wow.
Libach shall be remembered unto every century to come, until Mankind is no more!
I'm overwhelmed with beauty... and concern. Perfect version for the modern world.
I never imagined that i could bear the sound of music, God bless Laibach!!!
I just watched a Liberation Day documentary and this is just amazing 🙏 Laibach is legend ❤️
everytime... tears in my eyes...
This unironically made me want to visit Pyongyang
Know that feel
Me too.
Ono što niko ne može, može Lajbah!
Laibach did the right thing.
Yes they did, with all respect to everyone
Wow, this is magnificent!
This makes me feel so warm in the inside and I don't know why
The most original video I have seen in years. Great job!!
Thanks
thanks
Gracias Laura
LAIBACH AND THE SOUND OF MUSIC! 😎...no words
Odlicno..Laibach the best
This is so heart warming
Talented singers!
People complaining that the Laibach video doesn't align with their personal politics lol
By all metrics, then they missed the beauty of the moment when a brand new rainbow was made. I can't help but want to give every person a present, whether needed or not. Like a flower placed gently into the barrel of a rifle. ✌
Im in tears
i am still right here, and where the hell is the audience it deserves? this is a masterpiece.
amazing and beautiful
At 3:50 Milan Fras is smiling! Impossible!
Anyways, I highly value that this piece came to exist and the effort that my dear Slovenes put into this. κῦδος
What a fascinating video and song
This is the best on so many levels, meta and otherwise.
I love it! Human music!!
Outstanding and beautiful
Pure Genius.
so brillant
How wonderful of the North Koreans to invite Laibach to their country. That is such a meaningful compliment and honour.
2020 anyone? this’s a contemporary video art to me
you saw it's movie?
@@ShengTheCraftsman what's the movie called?
@@kevinmccorsley7570 Liberation Day (2016) it starts like this ua-cam.com/video/sMjuyWrZOks/v-deo.html
Yes
@@ShengTheCraftsman Do you by a chance know if the concerts featured in this videoclip can be seen somewhere? I've seen Liberation day, but it doesn't even include Laibach concert itself and I would really like to see the ones performed by the Koreans.
This is a freaking masterpiece. It is so meta I do not know how to begin. I got my opinion on the political orientation of Laibach but regardless, I gotta hand it to them. This was a total homerun.
1. If we were talking about any other band, this would be a normal '80s style promotional tour video. But we are talking about Laybach so this is just layer one.
2. The song on its own is a happy one but the plot of the movie is not a happy one and the real story of the family is not a happy one. Layer two
3. There is music-lyric dissonance as is the usual case with Laibach songs. Happy lyrics/rough industrial music. This creates some extra doubt on whether what you are hearing is actually happy. Maybe it is... Maybe not... And this is where it gets interesting. Layer 3
Now the good stuff:
What do all the above mean?
a.)Played straight it is a Laibach style love letter to Korea. One can perceive it this way. After all, it is just a cover of a happy song with a nice happy video on the background.
b.) Played ironically, given the dark undertone of the movie, the hard tunes of Laibach music and the stylized orderly happy people, it can be viewed as a critique.
c.) What if point b is right but it is not a critique but a love letter nevertheless. What if this is the laibach way of saying "We love you" to a regime of their liking in Laibach style?
d.) What if point and b are both right but instead of being a love letter to the regime, it is actually a love letter to the people and a critique to the regime?
e.) What if it is a combination of the above?
And there are two more considerations.
1.) How do the political convictions of Laibach fit into this? If they are fascists, this can be a critique of a communist dystopia or alternatively it can be a love letter since Laibach recognise that what they saw in North Korea is not communism but fascism and thus to their liking. If they are anti-authoritarian, this is obviously a critique of the regime.
2.) Laibach have stated something in the lines of "North Korea reminds us of Yugoslavia". What does this mean? Is this a good thing because those were the good old days? Is it a bad thing because Yugoslavia was run by an oppressive backward regime which went up in flames? Given that Laibach were harassed by the police back in those days, as far as Laibach are concerned, the answer is probably that the Yugoslavia reference is not a positive one at all. But it is still in the eye of the beholder and they definitely played with their audience and the N.Korea regime.
I've been leaning toward "d".
Very smart analysis. My question is, how could they possibly infiltrate the DPRK if it wasn't a honest to goodness fascist tie-in? I highly doubt the smallest trace of irony would fly over the North Korean sensors. Why would they pick Laibach, of all cover bands, to perform The Sound of Music which is sung in all english classes across the country's middle schools, if they didn't consider Laibach to be a true communist act?
@@zaiten2012 Because Laibach is not being ironic. According to the Laibach covenant: "All art is subject to political manipulation ... except for that which speaks the language of this same manipulation." Slavoj Zizek said: "An ideal subject today is one who has ironic distance towards the system, and the reverse of this is that, the only way, I would even say, to be really subversive, is not to develop critical potentials, ironic distance, but precisely to take the system more seriously than it takes itself."
For an example of how irony is not subversive, see the 2014 comedy movie "The Interview," which ends with Kim Jong-un being blown up. This was immediately co-opted by political actors who attempted to drop DVD copies of the movie onto North Korea via balloon. But this is the height of Western arrogance. We in the West make jokes about North Korea, are ironic towards it, but underneath we are serious: we really do want to blow up the country and kill their leader. When the North Korean leaders tell their people that the West is a threat to them, they're right, and so they have every reason to continue on with their system. The "ideal subject" as Zizek framed it means an alienated, passive consumer; one incapable of actually changing his world.
Incidentally, I think there is another possibility: that if anything this is a satire of Western culture, as Laibach performed the Sound of Music because it's popular in North Korea and is used to teach children English. But it was our culture which produced the musical; so what does it say about us if one of our most beloved cultural treasures is so easily compatible with an allegedly "totalitarian" system?
I'm pretty sure they have some fond memories about Yugoslavia, and I'm quite sure they would prefer that time to what bloody and criminal place Balkans became after the West "won". Of course there are many layers in their work, and I believe there is criticism too, but the sadness is greater. And I would boldly guess that the sadness is for the lost opportunites to build a better society. Communism was characterized by very bad (rough, oppressive, dictatorial) methods of implementation, but its core ideals and values are good, just and humane - much better than anything the current Pax Americana & TNC-style "democracy" can offer. Why do I believe I'm correct? Look at their song Eurovision - there is no feeling of sweetness, no feeling of nostalgia, no loveletter whatsoever. It seems like a pretty much outright condemnation of the current state of affairs (and it was 4 years ago! how much things have degraded since).
simply laibach
This is powerful stuff and beautifully performed.
bunch of geniuses
Masterpiece
*MACHINES WE ARE SENDING TO THE SKIES~* oh wait, wrong video
Ten thousand machines nitroglycerin in their veins... Wrong band!
Beautiful footage
That being said... phenomenal. Can't stop thinking about the kids in this video and I just hope they are doing well.
La mélodie du bonheur nord-coréen.
This is why I pay internet for
My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds
That rise from the lake to the trees
The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears
My heart wants to sigh like a chime
That flies from a church on a breeze
The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears
My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds
That rise from the lake to the trees
My heart wants to sigh like a chime
That flies from a church on a breeze
I go to the hills when my heart is lonely
To laugh like a brook when it trips
I know I will hear what I've heard before
And falls over stones on its way
My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
To sing through the night
And I'll sing once more
Like a lark who is learning to pray
Thank you for waiting until you were safe for this. This is monumental. A true insight, against the appeasers and appologists, strong with iron conscience like your band has always been. Thank you also for your bravery in traveling to DPRK.
Excellent. Respect.
Thanks
My heart!
I have a bad cold now and can totally imitate Milan! Woohoo!
PURE GENIUS
Laibach's cover versions are often used to subvert the original message or intention of the song-a notable example being their version of the song "Live Is Life" by Opus, an Austrian arena rock band. Laibach recorded two new interpretations of the song, titled "Leben heißt Leben" and "Opus Dei". The first, the opening song on the Laibach album Opus Dei, was sung in German. The second was promoted as a single, and its promotional video (which used the title "Life Is Life") was played extensively on American cable channel MTV. "Opus Dei" retained some of the original song's English lyrics, but was delivered in a musical style that left the meaning of the lyrics open to interpretation. Whereas the original is a feel-good pop anthem, Laibach's interpretation twists the melody into a triumphant military march. With the exception of the promotional video, the refrain is at one point translated into German, giving an example of the sensitivity of lyrics to their context. The Opus Dei album also features a cover of Queen's "One Vision" with lyrics translated into German under the title '"Geburt einer Nation" ("Birth of a Nation"), revealing the ambiguity of lines like "One race one hope / One real decision". On NATO, Laibach also memorably re-worked Europe's glam metal anthem "The Final Countdown" as a bombastic disco epic. Other notable covers include Let It Be, reinterpretation of the eponymous Beatles album. The ensuing maxi-single Sympathy for the Devil deconstructs the Rolling Stones song of the same name with seven different interpretations.
Laibach not only references modern artists through reinterpretation, but also samples or reinvents older musical pieces. For example, their song "Anglia" is based on the national anthem of the United Kingdom, God Save the Queen, released on Volk, a collection of Laibach's versions of several national anthems. On this album they also included an anthem for their NSK State in Time, based on their song "The Great Seal" from Opus Dei. They have also toured with an audio-visual performance centered on Johann Sebastian Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge. Since this work has no specifications of acquired instruments and is furthermore based on mathematical principles, Laibach has argued that the music can be seen as proto-techno. Therefore, the band found Die Kunst der Fuge to be ideal for an interpretation using computers and software. In 2009, Laibach reworked Richard Wagner's Overture to Tannhäuser, Siegfried-Idyll and The Ride Of The Valkyries in collaboration with the RTV Slovenia Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Izidor Leitinger. Laibach's version is titled "VolksWagner".
In addition to cover songs, Laibach has remixed songs by other bands. These include two songs by the Florida death metal band Morbid Angel that appear on the Morbid Angel EP Laibach Re-mixes.
(Obwohl sich Laibach grundsätzlich als „Rock-Band“ versteht, umspannt der Musikstil einen weiten Bogen von Genres und ist im Ergebnis eine in dieser Form zum Teil einzigartige Klangcollage.
Die frühen Stücke der Band in der ersten Hälfte der 1980er Jahre waren noch weitestgehend dem Post-Punk und dem Post-Industrial zuzuordnen und nahmen mit ihren Frühwerken Laibach (1985), Rekapitulacija (1985) und Nova Akropola (1986) partiell die Stilistik des Martial Industrial vorweg. Die Stücke dieser Periode sind geprägt durch den Einsatz von Bass und Schlagzeug, gepaart mit einfacher elektronischer Klangerzeugung und dem Einsatz von Kassettenrecordern für Samples und greifen inhaltlich und musikalisch die tatsächlichen industriellen Eindrücke der Bergbaustadt Trbovlje auf, aus der die Gründungsmitglieder Laibachs stammen. Exemplarisch für diese Stilperiode stehen unter anderem die Stücke Red Silence und Delo in disciplina (Arbeit und Disziplin).
Ab Mitte der 1980er Jahre bildet sich mit dem Album Nova Akropola allmählich der als militant classicism (Alexei Monroe) bezeichnete typische Laibachstil heraus, der geprägt wird durch militärische Marschrhythmen, Fanfaren und Samplings von klassischer Musik gepaart mit Bruchstücken politischer Reden und Statements insbesondere von Josip Broz Tito. Die Stücke sind im Vergleich ruhiger und verbreiten zum Teil eine fast mystische Atmosphäre. Exemplarisch für diesen Stil stehen unter anderem die Stücke Brat moj (Bruder mein) oder Država (Der Staat).
“Militant classicism is a form which unites the mechanics of organic rhythm and the confusion of intuitive sound internventions into the harmony of the beautiful idea. We have monopolised the right to chaos so as to underline order.”
„Militanter Klassizismus ist eine Form, die die Mechanik des organischen Rhythmus und die Verwirrung von intuitiven Klanginterventionen in der Harmonie der schönen Idee vereint. Wir haben das Recht auf Chaos monopolisiert, um die Ordnung zu unterstreichen.“
- Laibach
Mit dem Erscheinen der Alben Opus Dei und Let It Be wurde dieser Stil zum Ende der 1980er Jahre hin ergänzt durch zahlreiche Coverversionen bekannter Stücke aus dem Rock- und Pop-Bereich, die entsprechend in die Form des militant classicism umgeformt wurden.
Ab dem Ende der 1980er Jahre erfolgte - unter Beibehaltung des grundsätzlichen Stils - eine verstärkte Hinwendung zu Disco-, Techno- und teilweise sogar Rap-Elementen, kulminierend in den Alben Kapital (1992) und NATO (1994).
“We are fascinated by disco aesthetics […] which is - as a regular repetition - the purest form of militantly organized rhythmics of technicist production and classicist beauty.”
„Wir sind fasziniert von der Disco-Ästhetik […], die - als regelmäßige Wiederholung - die reinste Form von militant organisierten Rhythmen von technizistischer Produktion und klassizistischer Schönheit ist.“
- Laibach
Das 1997 erschienene Album Jesus Christ Superstars ist demgegenüber stark von Elementen des Heavy Metal geprägt.
„Der Grund, warum wir uns mehr ins Heavy-Metal-Genre bewegt haben, ist der, daß Heavy Metal das erste Genre gewesen ist, das die moralischen Werte der Religion hinterfragt hat.“
- Laibach, 1996
Im neuen Jahrtausend kehrte Laibach mit dem Album WAT wieder verstärkt zum militant classicism der späten 1980er Jahre zurück, wobei die Musik grundsätzlich zugänglicher und stärker von elektronischen Sounds geprägt war. Das 2006 erschienene Album Volk mit Neuinterpretationen verschiedener Nationalhymnen ist noch stärker von elektronischen Klängen geprägt und ist insgesamt wesentlich weniger martialisch gehalten. Mit den Projekten LAIBACHKUNSTDERFUGE und Volkswagner wandte sich Laibach verstärkt klassischen Vorbildern zu und interpretierte diese klassisch orchestriert (Volkswagner) oder auch rein elektronisch (LAIBACHKUNSTDERFUGE) neu.
In dieser eigenwilligen und teils kontroversen Zusammensetzung von Stilistiken spiegelt sich die Denkweise der Band wider. Hier wird das Prinzip der Überidentifikation mit totalitärer Ideologie deutlich: Laibach vereinnahmt alles.
„Wir nehmen von allem ein bißchen und schaffen etwas anderes in einer neuen Kombination. Das ist unser Eklektizismus.“
- Laibach, 1994
Die grundlegende Idee des militant classicism äußert sich auch in der Bühnenpräsenz der Gruppe. Konzerte von Laibach sind üblicherweise geprägt vom uniformierten und autoritären Erscheinungsbild der Musiker sowie auch dem Live-Einsatz entsprechender Instrumente wie Trommeln und Fanfaren. Das disziplinierte Agieren steht dabei im krassen Gegensatz zu dem eher spontanen und freien Ansatz der Rockmusik. Die ästhetische Wirkung wird übersteigert durch entsprechende Videoprojektionen und Banner mit laibach-typischer Symbolik, wobei für bestimmte Projekte auch von diesem grundsätzlichen Erscheinungsbild abgewichen wird.)
I love how Fras looks like he doesn't know where he is or what he is supposed to do at cca 2:23
Pure art
mega great video film
People constantly trying to work out if this is a critique or support, if they are communists or fascists or anarchists or whatever. I think they're just human. It's a joyful, human music - with a joyful, beautiful aesthetic. And by enjoying the aesthetic in complete isolation from whatever policies the regime enacts - that's the subversive and radical element. They're reintroducing the simplicity of human joy.
I feel like it's the modern art of music. As long as you look at it and expirience some emotion whether that be joy, sadness, rage, peace, or anything more specofic, the artist did their ob and that's that.
Exactly ! It's everything at once. That's the real beauty of their music, it's critical, melancholic, approving, empathetic and the best thing about it is that it is so profound that nobody is able to use it as propaganda because it touches on so many levels. One person might feel sadness by those who are oppressed by communism but at the same time you feel the similarities with capitalism. It's universal suffrage.
Bravo!
Stunning. This is an incredible video.
Thanks
Mindblown. I'm in awe.
boris benko great singer👍
Laibach....don't ever leave!
AMAIZING
GROSSARTIG!!!
Really cool song!
Beautiful! ótima!
The song inspires the nostalgia of a past and a life that we don't have, but you could have had if you were born in North Korea. We don't really know because we are not N. Koreans,,,,but actually we know, because we are all humans.
WOW! I was studying about the slovenian new art and the logarithm brought me to this incredible video. That's stunning!
thanks Janine from SLO
This so amazing.
Yes it is
This is brilliant !
What the author wanted to say, the teacher will ask us.
The author wanted to say a commonplace that our whole life is a theater.
This is just simply stunning. New Laibach fan here.
thanks
thanks
thanks
When my Korean students ask me what the meaning of juxtaposition is, I send then this video.
Amazing
This is so surreal
Dali eat your heart out
This is NSK's first big move for peace, understanding and cultural exchange inbetween peoples. This tickles the UN and produces on them the yellowest smile. Going as far as to where you're the least expected (just like when the Pistols went touring Dixie), is an act of benevolent courage, faithful to an higher understanding of life on the planet.
la mejor cancion del mundo
la mejor es Aritang por Laibach 😅 jaja
What Laibach did proves that's there's no border for music, if the music speaks for ppl and a lot of respect for all those who make it happen, it should have been such a challenge but they did it!